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Roundtable debate on Brexit human rights implications

11/04/2017

Legal experts will take part in a roundtable debate at the University of Wolverhampton about the human rights implications of Brexit.

The event has been organised by University of Wolverhampton Law School and the Law Research Centre and will be open to the public.

Contributors to the roundtable, all academics who are experts in the areas of EU law and/or human rights law, will consider the likely impact that leaving European will have on human rights protection in the UK.

Dr John Cotter, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton, who will be taking part in the debate, said: “The debate on Brexit, both before and after the referendum, has concentrated primarily on the potential economic impact of the UK leaving the EU. An issue that has been neglected comparatively is the effect that Brexit may have on human rights protection in the UK.

“Where human rights are considered in public debate and in the media, the discourse tends to be blighted by fundamental misconceptions: the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is often misunderstood to be an EU legal instrument, and the Council of Europe’s judicial organ, the European Court of Human Rights, which oversees the ECHR’s application, is regularly conflated with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

“Brexit should not, in itself, threaten the legal status of the ECHR in the UK, a status accorded to it through the Human Rights Act 1998. However, there may be a number of reasons to be concerned about human rights protection in the UK post-Brexit.”

The event will be chaired by Head of Law Sukhninder Panesar and will take place in the Lord Swarj Building, Molineux Street, WV1 1SG, on Thursday May 4, from 1pm-3pm, with lunch beforehand.

Booking is available through eventbrite. Further details are available at www.wlv.ac.uk.

For more information please contact the Corporate Communications Team.

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